Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all
by Matriaya
Summary: Middleman knows the best way to raise body temperature is to crawl into a sleeping bag with someone else. So what happens when Wendy gets the bright idea to jump into a snowbank with no clothes on? MM-WW oneshot


**Title**: perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all…

**Author**: Matriaya

**Rating**: PG (nothing really offensive)

**Written for the MIDDLEMAN WINTER WONDERLAND CHALLENGE**

**Author's Note**: This is my third attempt at this challenge. The first one had 4 pages of backstory, and when they actually got to the cabin, I ran out of ideas. The second one just sucked. So here is attempt number 3. Even this one I was going to do in a series of 5 short pieces, but I will just post this. If you guys like it, I might do more. We'll see. Enjoy!

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Her toes were going to fall off while she slept, she just knew it. Pins and needles jabbed into her icy skin even as she lay in front of the fire with a blanket draped across her back. The fire's forked tongue licked at her face and chest where the blanket left her exposed.

"Honestly Dubbie, what were you thinking? Rolling around in the snow with just your underwear on? There's a blooming blizzard raging out there!"

Through the staccato of chattering teeth, Wendy smiled. She never bothered to tell him the back story to her episode before she stripped down to her skivvies and whipped open the door of their small cabin. She just dove head-first into the nearest snow bank and shrieked like Xena on drugs.

It probably would have frightened him less to know that this uncouth habit of jumping into mounds of snow was born of a particularly entertaining night of drinking with Lacey and Nozer, and it had grown into a tradition with the three of them over the years. Once a year, when the snow was at its peak, they would get piss-pot drunk, strip (sometimes naked) and play in the snow. Normally it was followed by hot baths, hot chocolate, and lots of blankets. This time, however, she had no hot bath to thaw out her freezing limbs. She had only the fire, and the blanket.

"You transcend the ability to co-mingle work and play," the Middleman continued. It should have been awkward for anyone else that she was laying on the floor of a snowed in cabin wearing nothing but her undergarments and a wool blanket. Thanks to all those trips through the decontamination shower, though, the Middleman wasn't phased by the sight of his attractive partner wearing only blue lacey panties and a matching bra. He saw only someone he cared about, shivering uncontrollably on the floor while her lips grew steadily more purple with each passing moment.

The cold was keeping her from dozing off. Even though the flames massaged her front with heat, whispering drowsy thought into her ear, she still couldn't manage to relax because she was so thoroughly chilled to the bone. Her mind drifted as she stared into the dancing orange and listened to the logs crackle and pop. What a lovely painting she could make out of this, naked Xena Wendy battling off the bottle of vodka and snow, while cheerleaders Lacey and Nozer danced on the sidelines. The Middleman would be the referee, calling the shots. The paint smeared across the canvas in her mind, mingling with the flames her eyes perceived, creating an altered reality too obscure for anything but her artist mind to comprehend.

Her mind was so lost to the world of color and cold that she didn't hear the soft thud of clothing falling to the floor. She didn't take notice of the happenings behind her until the wool blanket dragged backwards across her body and she was suddenly surrounded by heat.

The Middleman realized he probably should have asked her permission before he spooned up against her and wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her closer to his bulky frame. This was not at all appropriate for him to be imposing on her like this, but he couldn't stand another minute of her shivering, and any sensible Middleman knew the best way to heat up a person was sharing body heat. So by golly, that's what he was going to do! After all, he was naturally on the warmish side, and if he had the body heat to spare…

His thoughts speared in a less friendly direction as he buried his nose in her black curls and inhaled. He hadn't meant to inhale deeply, to fill himself so entirely with her scent that he felt like he was drowning in her. The velvet skin of her stomach muscles danced beneath his hand. It took all of the training he'd received from Sensei Ping not to let his hand wander, to touch as much of her as he possibly could, which was exactly what his brain was telling him to do.

"Boss?" Wendy's groggy voice mingled sweetly with the sound of the crackling fire.

"Sharing body heat is the most logical way of warming you up, and since you decided to foolishly take a long walk off a short front porch into an oncoming blizzard, you need all the heat you can get."

His answer may have come out a bit snippy, but Wendy took his awkwardness in stride and couldn't help but be amused. The wall of heat radiating across her back now rivaled the seductive lick of the fire. His strong arms were a small cocoon made just for her, sheltering her against the wind that whistled through cracks in the windows.

In the morning, when she woke up to dying embers and his arms still wrapped around her, lust would trickle down the length of her, and she just might turn and brush that strong jaw with her lips – just once, to satisfy a curiosity. For the moment, she reached down and wrapped her thin fingers around his long ones and enjoyed the weight of it against her stomach.

She snuggled closer to him, drowsy then and finally ready to drift off to sleep. She missed the small smile that ghosted across his lips, and just barely registered the gentle pressure on the back of her head as he kissed her hair tenderly.

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